The PTRD-41 was put to good use by Soviet anti-tank teams but it generally lacked in penetration when the new generation of German tanks were rolled out to front lines. Along with the Soviet Army, the weapon was also utilized by anti-German partisan parties bent on depleting the ranks of the German Army through whatever means necessary. The PRTD-41 was used in all necessary battlefield manners and engaged both armored and soft-skin vehicles as well as enemy personnel directly. When her inability to stop tanks became common knowledge, PRTD-41 crews were keen to engage these vehicles through their open vision ports in an attempt to find some success with the weapon regardless - this practice did not yield promising results, however, for it required some skill and a lot of luck. Soviet PRTD-41 crews did find other uses for the weapon such as in house-to-house fighting where the weapon could easily pierce the walls of buildings to engage dug-in enemy personnel. Some PTRD-41 gun systems were also used to arm various light vehicles when possible, in effect making them make-shift, fast-moving tank destroyers to an extent. If the PTRD-41 failed at tackling the new generation of German tanks, it could still succeed in damaging softer-skinned vehicles. The weapon proved to have some value with the German Army as well, who ended up reconstituting captured examples, redesignated as 14.5mm Panzerabwehrbuchse 783(r), into their own ranks for at least guard duty up until about 1943. Despite her 1940s origin, the PTRD-41 managed an existence after World War 2, even being recorded in the hands of the North Korean Army and Chinese Army during the upcoming Korean War (1950-1953). The weapon may still reside as an active component in some militaries around the world, even today.
Compared to the PTRS-41 produced by Simonov, the PTRD-41 was a much lighter and a less complicated weapon system, albeit inherently limited by her single-shot capability. The growing thickness of German tank armor lessened the value of systems such as the PTRD-41 but her use was maintained throughout the whole of the Soviet war effort nonetheless.
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